Can you hide likes on Instagram in 2026?

Yes. Instagram has a built-in setting that lets you hide like and view counts on any single post or on every post you see in your feed. The control sits in the post's three-dot menu (per-post) and in Settings → 'Likes and share counts' (account-wide). It works on both your own posts and other people's posts, and you can switch it back at any time.

If you hide likes on Instagram, can others see them?

If you hide the like count on your own post, other people still see the actual usernames of who liked it, but the numeric total stops being shown to them. If you turn off like counts in your own feed, that change is only for you — it does not affect what anyone else sees on their app.

How do I turn likes back on?

For one post, open it, tap the three dots, and choose 'Show likes' to undo. For your whole feed, go to Settings and privacy → 'Likes and share counts' and switch 'Hide likes and share counts' back off. Both changes take effect straight away.

Does hiding likes affect Instagram's algorithm or reach?

No. Hiding the count is a display setting only. Instagram still records every like, the post is still ranked the same way in Explore, Reels, and the feed, and creators can still see their own full numbers in Insights. It changes what people see, not what the algorithm sees.

Should UK creators hide likes on their posts?

Usually not. Visible like counts are social proof — they signal to UK shoppers, brands, and agencies that posts land. Hiding them can help if your account is brand new and counts look thin, or if you want to take the pressure off a personal account. For a creator or business trying to grow, a healthy public like count tends to convert curious viewers faster than a hidden one.

How to Hide Likes on Instagram (UK 2026 Guide)

Can You Hide Likes on Instagram?

Yes — and unlike the follower-list question, which is a much messier story, Instagram has shipped a real, dedicated control for like counts. Instagram first rolled this setting out globally in 2021 after a long public test, and it has stayed in the app ever since. In 2026 the control covers both like counts and view counts, and it sits in two separate places depending on the result you want.

You can hide the like total on a single specific post (yours or someone else's), or you can hide like counts on every post in your own feed at once with one account-wide setting. The two routes do different things and it is worth being precise about which is which:

Per-post hide on your own post: nobody else sees the like count on that post. You still see it in Insights.
Per-post hide on someone else's post: the like count vanishes for you on that one post. Nothing changes for the person who posted it or for other viewers.
Account-wide hide ("Hide likes and share counts"): all like counts disappear in your feed, but only on your device. Other people are unaffected.

So the short answer is: yes, you can hide likes — and you have more control than people expect. The next two sections cover exactly how to do each one in the current UK version of the app.

How to Hide Like Counts on Your Own Posts — Step by Step

This is the route most UK creators and personal users actually want. It removes the public number from a specific post you have shared, without changing anything about the rest of your account. Here is the exact path:

Open the post on your profile that you want to hide the count on.
Tap the three-dot menu (⋯) in the top-right corner of the post.
Tap "Hide like and view counts" from the menu that slides up.
That is it. The number disappears from public view immediately. You will still see "Liked by username and others", but no total figure is shown.

If you want every new post to start out with likes hidden, you can also set the default for future uploads. When you are at the final screen of creating a post — the one with the caption box — tap "Advanced settings" at the bottom and toggle "Hide like and view counts on this post" on before you share. Do that once and the option is remembered as your default for subsequent posts; turn it off in the same place when you want counts back.

A useful detail: you can also hide likes after a post has been live for weeks or months. The three-dot menu route works retroactively on anything in your grid, including old posts and Reels. It does not delete the likes — they continue to count and you still see them in your own Insights dashboard — it only hides the public total.

How to Hide Likes on Other People's Posts (Whole-Feed Setting)

If the issue is your own scrolling experience — you want a quieter feed without like counts pulling your attention to every post — Instagram has a separate account-wide toggle. This one only affects what you see; nobody else on the app notices a difference.

The path on the current UK app is:

Open your profile and tap the menu (three lines) in the top-right corner.
Tap "Settings and privacy".
Scroll to "What you see" and tap "Likes and share counts".
Toggle "Hide likes and share counts on posts" on.

From that moment, like counts will be hidden across your feed, Explore, hashtag pages, and any post you scroll through in the app. You will still see the row of profile pictures and "Liked by username", but the numeric total is gone. The change is purely cosmetic and purely local to your account — the person who posted still sees their full count, and so does everyone else.

You can also hide the count on a single post by someone else without changing your whole-feed setting. Tap the three dots above that one post and choose "Hide like count". It is reversible in the same menu — handy if you only want a break from one particular account's metrics.

What Others Can and Cannot See When You Hide Likes

This is where most of the confusion lives. The phrase "hide likes" sounds total, but it is more specific than people assume. Here is what is actually hidden in each scenario, and what stays visible.

When you hide the count on your own post:

Hidden from everyone else: the numeric like total ("1,247 likes" → just "Liked by username and others").
Still visible to everyone: the row of profile pictures of who liked it, the "Liked by" preview text, and the comments.
Still visible to you: the full like count in your post's Insights, the names of every account that liked it, and your overall account analytics.
Algorithmic effect: none. Likes are still counted in full and the post is ranked normally.

When you turn on the account-wide "Hide likes and share counts" setting:

Hidden from you: the like total on every post in your feed, Explore, and hashtag pages.
Not changed for anyone else: other people see counts on their feeds exactly as before. They cannot tell you have hidden anything.
Not changed for your own posts: your followers still see your like counts unless you also hide each post individually.

The most common misunderstanding is the assumption that turning on the account-wide feed setting also hides your own posts' counts from your followers. It does not. The two settings are completely separate, which is why people sometimes complain that "hiding likes did not work" — they hid them in their own feed but never touched the per-post setting on their own grid. If you want both, use both.

Should You Hide Likes? Pros and Cons for UK Creators

The mechanics are easy. The judgement call is whether to actually use them. Here is an honest pros-and-cons for UK personal accounts, creators, and small businesses.

Reasons to hide likes:

Mental health and pressure. If a visible count is making posting feel like a performance metric, hiding it can take the edge off and let you post more freely. Several mental-health charities flagged this when the feature first launched.
A quieter scrolling experience. Turning the feed-wide toggle on makes Instagram feel less metric-heavy and can reduce the comparison loop on your own end.
Brand-new accounts with thin counts. If a post has 3 likes and is sitting on a profile you are trying to build credibility for, hiding the number can buy time while you grow.
Specific sensitive posts. A personal announcement or a one-off post where you genuinely do not want the count to be the focus.

Reasons to keep likes visible:

Social proof drives decisions. A visible like count is one of the fastest credibility signals on the app. UK shoppers, brand-deal teams, and agency scouts all glance at it before they engage.
Hidden counts can read as evasive. When most accounts in a niche show their counts, a hidden one stands out — and not always positively. Some viewers assume the number is being hidden because it is low.
You lose a feedback signal yourself. Even though you keep Insights, glancing at public counts is a quick way to read which posts are resonating in real time.
It does nothing for the algorithm. If your goal is more reach, hiding likes does not help — counts are display-only.

For most creator and business accounts, the maths usually points the same way it does with follower counts: a visible, credible number works harder than a hidden one. This is exactly why so many UK creators focus on building their Instagram presence steadily rather than hiding their metrics. If your account is new and counts are sitting on the wrong side of the threshold where strangers take you seriously, some UK creators give early posts a small, UK-targeted nudge on engagement so the numbers look established enough for organic visitors to trust the account, while others prefer to grow it slowly and entirely organically. Either is a legitimate route. The point is that hiding the number rarely solves the underlying issue — it just removes a signal that other people use to decide whether to follow.

For personal accounts, the calculation is different. If Instagram is a place to share with friends and family rather than a growth channel, hiding likes is a low-cost way to take the metric pressure off without changing anything else about how you use the app. The setting is one tap away and fully reversible, so there is no real downside to trying it for a week and seeing how it feels.

A Quick Note for UK Readers

The settings paths in this guide are based on the current UK build of Instagram on iOS and Android in May 2026. Meta occasionally rearranges menus or renames items — the most recent rename was "Likes" to "Likes and share counts" — so if you cannot find the exact label, the easiest shortcut is to open Settings and use the search bar at the top. Type "likes" and the relevant toggle will surface.

One last point: hiding likes is an in-app visibility setting, not a UK GDPR data setting. Likes themselves are still stored and processed by Meta as engagement data even when the count is hidden from view. If you want to manage the data Meta holds on you rather than just the display, that lives in a different place — Settings and privacy → Accounts Centre → "Your information and permissions".

How to Hide Likes on Instagram in the UK